2014 — 9 April: Wednesday
With apologies1 I wish to register a complaint...
This Windows 8.1 Update 1...
... what I downloaded from your OS boutique not 'alf an hour ago is dead.
And adding insult (what was I thinking?) to injury...
... there's — perhaps inevitably? — currently no help to be found at the place suggested by Microsoft one should seek help. How uncool is that?
I really lack the time (and patience) to debug Microsoft's software update processes for them. There's breakfast to be gobbled, and a solicitor to be nobbled, and then it will definitely be time for lunch already. Ho-hum. KBO.
Progress...
... of a sort. Following pre-lunch advice I found on an Australian site, I took IE11 out for a spin, pointing it directly to Redmond, and using it to download the five separate patches "involved" in this latest attempt to update Win 8.1 — four of them bedded down without a murmur but not, alas, the big one (the meat of this update). Still, at least I got another error code...
... though the advice regarding how to fix it was essentially identical to that of the earlier one. Namely, run the Windows Update Troubleshooter (done). Run the DISM tool to scan the health of, and then to repair, the entries associated with the state of my system (done). Download and run the valid-for-10-days malware scanner (done).
So now all that remains is to refresh, reset, or re-install, this sorry joke of an operating system. If it comes down to that, I expect I will simply re-install my 64-bit Win7 Ultimate instead and call it a day at that. (If I can't get this Win8.1 Update 1 on to BlackBeast within five weeks I will apparently lose the ability to install any further updates; remind me why this is so terrible.)
Meanwhile...
... five of the six Blu-rays I recently ordered in Amazon's "3 for £17" deal were left on my front doorstep:
Happily...
... it's not been all bad news today — the visit to the solicitor was successful; my lunch and post-lunch chat was excellent; and it turns out that my little Toyota Yaris is not (for once) one of those affected by the latest product recall:
It must by now pre-date all the "improvements" being made by the newer batches of graduate designers.
I am not...
... the only sufferer, it seems. That's always a minor consolation. But I can't help thinking I'd feel warmer towards Microsoft if their code quality was higher. (Link.)